Chart Of The Day: Greek Poverty

And now, the saddest chart of the day: Greek poverty since the crisis, and in 2013, when the so-called "Grecovery" arrived.

Here is how Greek Kathimerini describes the fact that nearly half of all Greek incomes, some 44%, had an income below the poverty line in 2013 according to estimates by the Public Policy Analysis Group of the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB).

The poverty threshold is measured as 60 percent of the price-adjusted average income in 2009, or up to 665 euros per person per month and up to 1,397 for a couple supporting two underage children. The AUEB researchers also found that last year 14 percent of Greeks earned below the adequate living standards, compared with 2 percent of the population four years ago.

The blame, of course, was placed squarely on austerity, or the fact that Greece, whose epic socio-economic problems stem primarily from its massive overleveraging leading up to 2008, did not leverage some more to "fix" itself.

The group’s report, published last week, suggested that during the crisis instead of strengthening support to the unemployed – which is one of the most efficient methods to rekindle demand – the state was forced to reduce it.

Well, not all the blame: some was reserved for where it rightfully resides: an incompetent, corrupt, crony and quite criminal political system:

... besides the austerity policies of the last few year, the inability of the state to contain the collapse of social structures is due to the lack of targeted strategies and to the inefficient use of resources, problems that dogged Greece even before the onset of the crisis.

No mention that Greece was merely a pawn in the "political capital" invested in the failed Eurozone experiment, in which the main thing at stake is the vested interest of the legacy oligarchs and, of course, the bankers.

As for the Greece: don't cry for it - it still has the euro - that symbol of successful European integration - so all is well.

As if they were eating a sophisticated diet, only now its MORE sophisticated. Why the ignorant little people were stuffing their pie holes with lobster and tenderloin for breakfast. Lunch was champagne and truffles. And now...and now they are MORE MORE MORE SOPHISTICATED!
See, it's not the Feds fault. Proved it. See?

Seriously, if people stuck to their sorghum flour, rats, small birds, second harvest corn kernals.....there would be zero food inflation.
Signed.
Ben Bernanke.

Greece is the wonderful country where reported income is HIGHER than actual income!!! unless of course you're one of the 1% crowd.. example: a friend of mine is lucky enough to have a decent job. Pays about 500 a month , from which she actually manages to live.. nothing in the way of surplus to save, but she makes rent and bills and expenses. She's an only child and her mother put her apartment in her daughter's name to simplify inheritance eventually (indeed she bought it in her daughter's name decades ago.. probably might be getting close to paying off the mortgage in a few years even) Anyway.. her declared income is almost 12k euros, on which she has to pay income tax. But she might have had 6k of income from her job. The rest is imaginary income added by the tax people simply because there's a residence technically owned by her somewhere, so she magically has another 6500 or so euros of 'income' which is of course taxed. Nevermind that they have two different property taxes on the apartment already, the regular one and the 'extraordinary one time tax' (yes they still have the temerity to call it that though it's three years running now!).. for the 99%, perhaps half of 'income' reported by the statistical service is this kind of imaginary income. But it looks good on the books when they would go to frankfurt or new york and say 'look at all this GDP and owed tax we have waiting to bring in'! and it's also a great way to force the serfs to sell. The banksters have never liked the fact that home ownership in greece is higher than anywhere else in europe (and outside of the cities, it's usually the ancestral home in a village which was owned free and clear, seeing how grandpa built it with his bare hands). You can get an idea which stage they expect things to hit by the fact that this year they finally cut the horrific 11% tax on property transfers down to 3%.. now that the little people are being forced to sell to the big, dont want to gouge the big people too much now do we?

Ebt is not for the poor folks as they don't see themselves that way. They are the Least Employed American Citizens Habitually, or a LEACH. The rest of us are the Financially Usurped Citizens Knavishly Expecting Deliverance, or FUCKED.

well, that graph with the parabolic line going pretty much straight up, looks like the same graph & line re the money printing. it's sick, it's all just so sick & sad & real people are paying for this with their lives.

I just watched the trailer of 300: Rise of an Empire, there is a scene where Themistocles says: "We would rather die on our feet than live on our knees". Looks like their descendants don't share that view.

The descendants have been too busy riding the coattails of their forefathers. Whether quickly and shockingly ( as it is happening now) or slowly and over 1-2 decades, the country would have disintegrated.

They should have been put on training wheels, cleaned things up slowly over a period of 10-15 years and then stayed with the drachma anyway. A LOT of hurt, pain and misery could have been avoided. Some of the stories I hear are truly unconscionable. Somebody had better do something and quickly. This should not be allowed to continue.

I'm supposed to feel sorry for Greeks, why? It's one of the largest "gimmee" cultures in Europe. Not paying your way but expecting the state to do so for you is a national past time there. They are simply reaping what they've sown.